I Ended Up Snatching a Marriage With the Male Lead! - Chapter 67

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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I’d ended up in a hasty marriage with the male lead.
Episode 67

But that lasted only a moment before Lucas let out a quiet laugh.
“Never mind.”
She’d never guess his true meaning anyway, no matter what he said.
Lucas casually brushed his hair back and changed the subject.
“So how’s life as a duchess treating you?”
“Well…”
Emilia recalled the flood of attention that had been poured on her at today’s tea party.
Her brow furrowed involuntarily.
“Not well, then?”
“No, it’s fine. It’s only temporary anyway.”
“Temporary?”
“Yes. Once my business is finished, I’ll divorce him.”
At her offhand remark, Lucas’s eyebrows rose.
“Divorce…?”
“Yes.”
Emilia gave him a brief explanation of the Marriage Deferment Clause.
How she’d ended up marrying Kaiden in the first place.
There was no reason to hide it—she belonged to the Princess after all.
“Hmm, I see.”
Lucas, listening to her account, rubbed his chin and smiled.
“Then I’m glad.”
His voice, which had been strangely subdued, grew lighter.
“Glad about what?”
“Nothing at all.”
But Lucas only smiled.
Emilia tilted her head in puzzlement but didn’t press further.
Instead, she broached the question she’d been meaning to ask.
“By the way, Lucas.”
“Hmm?”
“How many knights serve the Princess in total?”
Lucas gave her a curious look.
“Why do you ask?”
“Just wondering.”
Emilia shrugged.
“I didn’t see any other knights with the Princess today besides you.”
“Well—”
Lucas spoke as though it were obvious.
“There’s only me.”
Emilia fell silent for a moment.
“Really?”
“That’s right.”
His answer was utterly matter-of-fact. Emilia studied him quietly.
So it really had been Lucas—the man who, in the original story, had lost his life protecting the Princess.
A strange feeling stirred in her chest.
“Lucas.”
“What.”
“You’re more impressive than I thought.”
“…What?”
At her words, Lucas went momentarily rigid.
Emilia smiled and shook her head.
“It’s nothing.”
After a bit more conversation, she rose from her seat and smoothed down her skirt lightly.
Then suddenly, Emilia’s movements stopped short.
“Oh?”
“What’s wrong?”
Emilia glanced around with an awkward expression.
“Looking for something?”
“My bag.”
Emilia pressed her hand to her forehead and swallowed hard.
“I think I left it in the Reception Room.”
She must have set it down briefly when receiving the ice pack and forgotten it.
Lucas let out a soft laugh.
“It seems the Duchess of House Valen still lacks a noblewoman’s refinement.”
“What?”
Emilia’s expression grew pouty.
“Noblewomen don’t lose things like that.”
“Isn’t that a bit of a prejudice?”
“Not from what I’ve observed.”
His playful grin was rather annoying.
Emilia was shaking her head and about to turn toward the Princess’s Palace when—
Lucas stepped forward and made her sit back down.
“Stay here.”
“Pardon?”
“I’ll fetch it.”
Emilia blinked.
“You don’t have to.”
“I do.”
Lucas walked off with an easy smile.
“I was ordered to escort you. So looking after a careless guest falls under my duties as well.”
“Wait, Lucas. Did you just call me careless?!”
Emilia protested at his back, but Lucas ignored her.
He left behind only the sound of his playful laughter, striding briskly toward the Princess’s Palace.

* * *

Cedric stormed out of the building where his department was housed.
“Damn it, nothing’s going right!”
He kicked at a small stone blocking his path.
But it merely struck the outer wall and fell uselessly.
The sight only soured his mood further.
That solid wall wouldn’t get so much as a scratch from a worthless pebble no matter how hard it struck.
It mirrored his own position perfectly.
“Everyone looks down on you the moment you lack connections.”
Most of his colleagues were scions of powerful houses or had ties to respectable noble families.
As a man from an obscure house with no territory to his name, he was being completely dismissed.
His once-towering pride had begun to crack under that weight.
‘I didn’t go through all that hardship just to be treated like this.’
Worse, his terrible luck had cost him years spent failing the examination.
He couldn’t afford to waste more time trying to make up for it.
‘Damn it. It’s not as if I have no connections!’
He desperately wanted to drag Reina straight to Ellaik’s house right now.
But according to what Reina had told him, Count Ellaik was furious.
And for good reason—he’d gotten the count’s daughter pregnant.
From a father who treasured his daughter dearly, he was far from welcome.
To become a Bride-Price Husband smoothly, he needed to read the count’s mood carefully.
Yet as the waiting continued, other thoughts began to surface.
‘Reina’s carrying my child anyway—what can he do about it?’
Even if displeased, the count would have no choice but to accept him.
Unless the count intended to cast Reina out.
Cedric frowned, thinking of Reina lounging about at the inn.
‘As if pregnancy’s that big a deal.’
All the other women did it—Reina was always being so dramatic.
Always needing this, asking for that.
Which naturally led his mind to Emilia.
‘She wouldn’t have whined like that.’
Whereas Reina only made things worse for him, already exhausted from adjusting to work at the Imperial Palace.
As stress piled up, he found Reina increasingly grating.
In fact, since the pregnancy, even her appearance had deteriorated.
Lost in irritation as he walked, Cedric suddenly found himself completely off the familiar path.
‘Where the hell am I?’
Some forest path—so secluded it was hard to believe he was still within the Imperial Palace grounds.
‘Ugh, I need to turn back…’
It was just as Cedric was clicking his tongue in annoyance—
when a woman sitting in the distance caught his eye.
Her hair and dress skirts swayed in the gently stirring breeze.
Cedric mentally whistled, raking his gaze over the woman’s silhouette.
The lustrous hair and the curves of her figure beneath the dress made his throat tighten with interest.
‘A noblewoman visiting the palace?’
He wasn’t sure why she’d be alone out here without a single maid, but intrigued, Cedric straightened his shoulders and approached her.
“Ahem, miss. If perhaps you’ve lost your way, I’d be happy to offer assistance…”
But Cedric couldn’t finish his sentence.
When the woman slowly turned her head and he saw her face, he went rigid with shock.
“You…!”
Cedric’s eyes widened in disbelief as he muttered—
“…Emilia?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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